French Ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday morning, to be rebuked over the French proposal to the UN Security Council calling for international observers on the Temple Mount.
Maisonnave's summons is meant to express Israel's keen displeasure at the proposal that was made in opposition to its stated position, and which ignores the way in which Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount is being used to incite Arab terror.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to the call for international observers on the holiest site in Judaism, by saying at a Security Cabinet on Sunday night that in the proposal "there is no mention of Palestinian incitement, there is no mention of Palestinian terrorism."
"There is a call for the internationalization of the holy places. We've seen what happens to the holy places in the Middle East - what has happened at Palmyra, what is happening around Iraq and Syria, and elsewhere - that radical Muslims are destroying each other's mosques, not to mention the Christian sites, world heritage sites, Jewish sites."
Netanyahu emphasized that the status quo on the Mount - by which the Jordanian Waqf continues to enjoy de facto control and ban Jewish prayer in violation of Israeli law - is not being changed by Israel, but rather is being breached by Arab rioters turning Al-Aqsa Mosque into a terror den.
"Israel is not the problem on the Temple Mount; Israel is the solution," he concluded. "We're keeping the status quo, we're the only ones who will do it, and we will continue to do this in a responsible, serious manner."
An Israeli official was quoted by AFP on Saturday saying Israel intends to submit a formal complaint to France over the "ludicrous and biased" proposal.